The Runaway
by Lioness0057
Summary: Ember, the sole lady knight in Analayah, runs away from the palace because the King isn't being fair!


"Lady Ember!" King Raoul yelled. "I forbid you to have anything but a professional relationship with these knights! They need to keep their mind in the battle, not on you! We don't need men dying because they are thinking of you and not the task at hand! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes, your grace." I replied, bowing.

I was angry with him, but I still had to treat him with respect, I was his Champion after all.

"You are dismissed." he said.

Then I left the room and went to my chambers. My cat, Willow was sitting on the bed.

"Why does the King treat me so much different than he does the men?" I asked. "I've proved myself, haven't I? I'm just as good as any of them, but he treats me like I don't deserve to be his Champion! He treats me like a girl who should've went to that cursed convent and not even come here at all! Even when I was a page and he was a squire, he just felt obligated to be nice to me, that's the truth! Well, I won't stand for it anymore, I'm not going to let him treat me the same way that he does the other women around here! I'm going to leave and see what he does then!"

"Your going to leave, my lady?" a voice asked. "Have I really been that awful to you the past ten years?"

I turned around to see my servant, Mariah, standing in the doorway, a brand new grey tunic was in her hands.

"No, Mariah." I said. "It's not you. It's the King, he treats me like any other woman in the palace and I've done nothing but serve him for the last two years. He still doesn't treat me like the other boys, I've had it and I'm going to run away."

"May I come with you, my lady?" she asked.

I nodded and began to pack my things. I packed all of my tunics and all of my breeches and Mariah packed up what little things she had. Then I grabbed Willow and we left the palace. I used an invisibility spell so that no one could see that we were leaving. When we reached the stables, I saddled my horse, a pure black mare named Midnight, and I saddled a horse for Mariah, a pure white stallion named snow. We put our things in the saddle bags and Willow rode in front of me. Then we rode into Chisadu Forest. We stopped when we reached a cabin and tied the horses in the stables in the back. This cabin was where the pages and squires got to stay when they went on their camping trips. Mariah and I went inside, Willow following close behind. We each picked a room and unpacked our things. Then we went for a walk in the forest, Willow stayed at the cabin.

"Why are you here?" a voice asked from behind us, we were a few miles away from the cabin.

I turned around to see a group of bandits standing behind us. Their leader, a tall, thin man was who has spoken to us. He pulled out his sword and the others did the same.

"My lady, what do we do?" Mariah asked, she had never seen me in a battle before.

I was the realms sole lady knight, the only girl who had ever wished to pursue knighthood.

"You stay behind me." I ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." Mariah said.

"What are you gonna do?" he leader asked. "Wave a fan at us?"

"You apparently don't know who your dealing with, do you?" I asked.

They all stared at me, dumbstruck. I pulled out my sword and got into the battle position. Suddenly, the men attacked. I defended the best I could. I sliced on man right through the stomach and another across the neck. Once they were all defeated, either dead or retreating, Mariah and I headed back to the cabin. Instead of only two horses, three horses were tied in the back. We walked inside to find Leon Honah, the chief hostler, sitting in the kitchen. He looked up when we walked into the room. He stood up, bowed, and sat back down in his chair.

"Lady Ember," he said. "Why did you take two horses from the stable without notifying anyone? His lordship is worried about you, he's going out of his mind trying to figure out where you've gone to. Will you please come back?"

"No." I replied. "I won't."

"Why not?"

"Because the King is being unfair, he doesn't treat me like the other boys. He gives me limits to the things that I can do while the boys are allowed freedom to do whatever they want."

"That's just because he worries about you getting hurt, he cares for you. Ever since Queen Krystahl was killed 2 years ago, you have been the only woman in his life. He really does want you to come back."

I thought about it for a moment and finally I agreed to going back home. We packed our things, mounted the horses, and went back to the palace. King Raoul was waiting by the entrance when we got there. I dismounted and Leon led Midnight and the other horses to the stables. Mariah went with him. I got over to King Raoul and bowed.

"Stand up, Lady Knight." he ordered.

I obeyed and stood back up. The King's arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me close to his body. He pressed his lips to mine in a passionate kiss, I didn't return his kiss. I pulled away from him.

"My lord, what are you doing?" I asked, stepped away from him putting plenty of distance in between us.

"Ember, I love you." he said. "I have since the moment I met you. I only married Krystahl to make my parents happy, we never even kissed each other. We only pretended to love each other when we were in public, I've always loved you."

I turned away from him and ran into the palace. I walked into my chambers and threw myself onto my bed, sobbing. He loves me? After all these years he chooses to tell me now? Why didn't he tell me when we were younger?

"My lady, what's wrong?" Mariah asked from behind me.

I looked up at her, my face was tear-stained.

"He loves me, Mariah." I said. "King Raoul told me that he loves me."

"Well, that's wonderful..." she hesitated. "Isn't it?"

"No, it's not! Why did he wait so long to tell me?"

"He had an arranged marriage, my lady." Mariah said. "He had to marry Queen Krystahl even though he loved you."

Then there was a knock on the door. Mariah answered it. It was King Raoul, he walked past Mariah and sat next to me on the bed. I moved away from him, I felt uncomfortable with him being so close to me. He moved closer to me and pushed me onto my back, then he kissed me, and began to undress me.....


End file.
